Look Ma, a leaf! No son, thats found art!

We weren't given any real topics to discuss in our blogs this week so I am just making one up as I go. I sometimes feel cheated when we view films/pieces in class, not just in Film 201, but also in other classes and in the real world. I may just be expecting more from something which I cannot grasp, but sometimes the films feel weak...thats the best word I can come up with. They feel as if the artist decided to do a few shots of this and that and then string them together. Added to my frustration is the fact that I am told by others (instructors/student/media) that this piece is great/grand/genius and I am left gnawing on my tongue trying to understand and hold in my thoughts for humilities sake. I am mainly focusing on films like Available Light Shift, Clear Blue Sky, and Data Diaries. While these are more than acceptable pieces and I did enjoy some of them quite a bit, they seem to lack a personal touch or possibly some sort of goal. They all seem to deal more with experimenting with film/video rather than the film/video experience and that can be why I have problems with them. Carl said in class last Monday about an artist who does a piece where he projects film and sprays Windex on the projection booth window in order to create imagery on the screen. That could very well be a most enjoyable experience, but it also seems cheap, a cop out to the medium itself. Maybe I am just not pretentious enough, or have been brainwashed by modern entertainment. I am not proposing by saying this that we should travel back 500 years and let a select few be responsible for the creation of art, and I am not proposing that every artist should be forced to create within some sort of philosophical boundary, but I would like to know why the hell do they think its good and worthy of my viewing. It might be small of me to ask for something so large.
On a side not, I gotta say that The Dark Room left me a bit sick after seeing it. I was quite good, a feast for the eyes, but a bit nausea inducing. Also I want to say that Night Flight, by UWM's very own Brent Cougenhour (I have no clue how you spell his last name) was by far one of the better films I have seen this entire semester. While it was stated that it was intended to be viewed on two separate monitors and in color, I think that I prefer the format/presentation of it we got on Monday. The juxtaposition of the two screens, the haunting audio, and the simplicity of the black/white film made it stick out more as a whole. I can't compare it to its original installation format, but I doubt I would have given it much thought or time...hell, I might be ranting about it rather than raving.